Let's Talk Clinton: Michael Parenti

He could have moved in a big way to cut the military budget but it's just like Bush's, an enormous amount of money to pay for missiles pointed toward a country that no longer exists. He could cut back and not lose too many jobs. Create jobs in mass transit, conservation, alternative energy, and environmental preservation.

He could start a works project to reclaim the environment. Build affordable housing. A massive cleaning of air and water, and [development of] a high-speed rail system.

He could phase out nuclear plants and go thermal, solar, hydral, and tidal. We have a newly developed electric car that's long-running and low-cost.

Infrastructures are crumbling in cities--electrical, power, water, bridges are coming apart. HUD is sitting on thousands of abandoned units and could rehabilitate those houses with workers. Homework for the homeless.

This would put him in collision with vested interests like real estate and housing. Mass transit would get the oil, auto, and tire lobbies on his neck.

But there'd be a political payoff for that kind of political courage. Job spending and reallocation would win masses of people. That's how Roosevelt did it, and he had people behind him and was re-elected three times.